Bowling ball automatic retarder



May 20, 1952 L. F. COWGILL 2,597,072

BOWLING BALL AUTOMATIC RETARDER Filed Aug. 25, 1948 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1Inventor Lewis F. Cowg/l/ y 20, 1952 F. COWGILL BOWLING BALL AUTOMATICRETARDER 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed Aug. 25, 1948 3 Fig.2.

Fig. 3.

Inventor Lewis F. Cowgil/ F 'atented May 20, 1952 .z,591,072 BOWLINGBALL uromn'r onn'rannan Lewis FllCowgill, Cleveland, om; ApplicationA ugust 23, 1943, S e1 -ial 4 5, 67 5 A .5 Claims. (01. 273-47) .1. Th Pr snt inve tion s a e e and-tis ul l p e eme i au oma 'bewl hs' :ba 'ar'dii rs evie t r duc th mom n um o a bowling. a 1 it r i i tp he tan jqkir m hep n pfa w naal r s importa i th return of bcwlinsbaz-li thpail-r c t reduce th s d the o 1 a 1. ball approach s t erackt culminateth danger t bowlers whenre hin vt a balloon hei iack, Sev ra t pes. o bal r tarder ih ve been desi ned, and placed in use, which fu iial y ivolve theiprov s on of a overhead t ut i through wh ch, he h passeslandit has be ound hat uc .overheadi triicture presents a physieal an mentalh ard to the bowler nd tsapnearance is unsi htly Accord n l itis-an'obji'ect of this inve tion to provide'an autom t c b ll et'arde ofthischarwe h,er the afo esaid objec iona l in au'res areyelimi at d:

' 'A'iur her o ct or the nvent on s to pr vi e a evice of'th s; cha ct ro m le'an practical onstruc io wi h is, ne t nd rac ive "i appearance,relatively.inexpens e o n i a'- iire andotherw well ad p edio th i i tiese r whi h'th vsame tei e Other objectsandadvantages reside invthe d tV V of the, retar wt 4131's e-t ra iew: tepi qtee' eter flarm; I

ure; i a Perspetti e ,Yiew, gj 9f mg #Re e wherein for the purpose ofillustration I have the'sidesl 8 of the housing. The pivoted end orth'ea'rni --I l at each side thereof is? provided with spacingplatesilfix'edly securedito thearm, the plates being of substantiallyovate 'formation through the widenportio'n of which .the pin '9eXtendsthr-ough an opening Mand withthe narrow' portionof the platesextending upwardly and rearwardly from said pin; :The narrow upperportion "ofthe plates [3' are also formed with openingsflfi receiving apin 16' to the ends of which are secured 'tha upper ends of a yoke liextendirig downwardly int'o the housing-l behind l p I v a The lower endof the yoke I'l {is pivotally attachedto the upper end era piston rod 18which extends downwardly through the top of a oylinder [9 formed withapertur'edfear's '20 at its lower end for pivotally untmgpn'me lowerpin' 10. A piston (not ,sho'wnS is earnedat the lower end of the pistonro d IBIOI worme a the cylinder I9 and the cylindermaybeeither-of'a'pneurnatic or hydraulic type to-provide a check for thedownward movement of the piston rod 18 upon a downward swinging movementof' the arm H and having spring means n otfshown to return thepistonrodand armto theinupper'positions and to normally" maintain the arm;infalnflpsttijd- I ing positjiqn 855 shown in Figure-Bof-the drawings.

' Th l pp re i of t e i '1' v e. e hl is rovid w th P i wa h -2 "w i befixedly secured to the arm' andihavingian opening 22 extendingtherethrough. p in23 is positioned in the opening22 and on thefends ofwhich are pivotally mounted apair of 'ball contacting pads 24'.

The pads 2 4are of flat construction and of suitable material andpositioned in spaced 'paral- I lel relation with respect to each otherat opposite sides of the upper end of the arm I l.' The pads areformed'with an opening 25 substantially {at the center thereof 'forpivotally-mounting" on the pin 23 and the forward 'e'dges of the padsare curved inwardly as shown at 26 at their upper portion, the lowercurved e'dgefterminating in a forwardly projecting hump ZTpositionedbelow the pivot n in o v .v ,w A' wire spring designated generally at 28is f ormedintermediate' its ends with; a substantially U -'-'shapedportion 29' which straddles the front edge crime-a m u and with'thellesser or said U'-shaped portion looped or coiled as at}! on the pin 23at opposite sides of the arm; The age of the Springextend downwardlyfromthe coil-3 l and teimiiiate-irieys 32 engaging the ends are bolt orscrew-33 carried openings adjaeeht the rear edges ofthe pads- 24. lhes1o1'-inlg'. 25 normally :holds the pads: 24 in an upstanding IDQ'.sition with thewhum'p 21 projecting forwardly as 3 shown by the fulllines in Figure 3 of the drawings.

In the operation of the device, the housing I is mounted under the rack6 with the arm ll projecting upwardly between the sides of the rack asshown in Figure 2 of the drawings and with the pads 24 positioned in thepath of a bowling ball 35 travelling on the track 5 onto the rack.

As the ball enters the front end of the rack 6 the ball will engage thehump 21 of the pads 24 whereby to swing the upper ends of the padsforwardly as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 3 of the drawings sothat the balls will seat in the curved upper edge 26 of the pads.

The momentum of the ball will swing the arm H downwardly as shown by thedotted lines in Figure 1 of the drawings and move the piston in thecylinder I9 downwardly to thus check the momentum of the ball. Themomentum of the ball and the weight thereof will move the pads 24downwardly between the rack '6 and below the upper edge thereof as shownby the dotted lines in Figure 1, the engagement of the ball with thepads 24 placing the spring 28 under tension and as the arm II and pads24 reach their lowermost positions the spring will exert its influenceon the pads to swing the edge thereof provided with the hump 21 upwardlyand to thus lower the outer ends of the pads to release the balltherefrom and to push the ball in a direction toward the rear end of therack.

After the ball passes from the pads '24 the action of the springprojected piston rod in the cylinder will return the arm H and pads 24to their normal upstanding positions.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings it is believed that a clear understanding of thedevice will be quite apparent to those skilled in this art. A moredetailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shownand described a preferred embodiment of the invention the same issusceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of theinvention as herein described and the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A bowling ball retarder for call return racks comprising a fluidcheck device mounted beneath the rack, an arm pivotally connected tosaid check device and normally held thereby in an upstanding position,and a spring biased pad rockably mounted at the upper end of the arm anddisposed edgewise in the path of a ball entering the rack to retardmovement of the ball and actuated by impact by the ball to move the padout of the path thereof, said pad including upper and lower portionspositioned respectively above and below the pivot of the pad, and saidpad being rockably actuated by a ball passing thereover independently ofthe movement of the arm to move the rear portion of the pad upwardlybehind the ball, and spring means engaging the pad and having itsbiasing action increased as a result of the impact by the ball with thepad to rockably actuate the pad in a direction to impart forwardmomentum to the ball.

2. A bowling ball retarder for ball return racks comprising a fiuidcheck device mounted beneath the rack, an arm pivotally connected tosaid check device and normally held thereby in an upstanding position,and a fiat spring biased pad 7 rockably mountedin an upstanding positionat the upper end of the arm and disposed in edgewise position in thepath of a ball entering the rack to retard momentum of the ball andactuated by impact thereof to move the pad out of the path of the ballupon impact of a ball with the pad, said pad having a forwardlyprojecting portion initially contacted by the ball and actuating the padin a direction to increase the biasing action of its spring forsubsequently imparting momentum to the ball following its retardingaction.

3. A bowling ball retarder for ball return racks comprising a fluidcheck device mounted beneath the rack, an arm pivotally connected tosaid check device and normally held thereby in an upstanding position,and a flat spring biased pad rockably mounted in an upstanding positionat the upper end of the arm, said arm and said pad being disposed inedgewise position in the path of balls entering the rack to individuallyretard momentum of the ball and actuated by impact thereof to move thepad out of the path of the ball upon impact of a ball with the pad, andsaid ball actuating the pad upon initial contact thereby to increase thebiasing action of the pad, and said pad subsequently subjecting the ballto such action for imparting momentum to the ball following itsretarding action.

4. In a bowling ball retarder, means mounted on a ball return rack inthe path of a ball moving thereon for initially retarding movement ofthe ball and subsequently imparting momentum thereto, said meanscomprising an upstanding vertically swingable arm, a flat upstanding padpivoted to the'upper end of the arm, said arm and said pad beingpositioned in the path of the ball for actuation thereby to lower thearm and pad, spring means engaging the pad and opposing downwardmovement of the pad, a fluid check device connected to and opposingdownward movement of the arm, and a ball seat at the contacting edge ofthe pad and including a lower edge urged upwardly behind the ball bysaid arm during passage of the ball over the pad.

5. A bowling ball retarder for ball return racks comprising anupstanding arm, means pivotally connecting the arm for vertical swingingmovement to a supporting structure under a ball rack, a fiat upstandingpad pivoted substantially at its central portion to the upper end ofsaid arm and disposed in edgewise position in the path of a ballentering the rack and actuated by the momentum of a ball to swing thepad downwardly to permit passage of the ball over the pad, spring meansengaging the pad and opposing downward movement of the pad, the lowerend of the pad being swung upwardly behind the ball by a downbehind theball during passage of the ball thereover to impart a forward momentumto the ball.

LEWIS F. COW GILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,979,466 Hedenskoog Nov. 6, 19342,292,753 Gerald Aug, 11, 1942

